Do You Remember When?
by Koca002
Summary: Inko only wanted one more birthday with her son before she likely wouldn't be able to spend anymore with him. Her Izuku had friends now and she wanted just one birthday where she could watch her son enjoy it with his friends and do everything that kids were supposed to do on birthdays. She'll need to break some rules in order to be with him on this day.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, it's me again. This time, I thought I'd try something a bit different and write a story for My Hero Academia. My first two stories have been DBZ and written about Gohan and Videl (if you haven't read them yet, go take a look for them over on my page). This story, although it has been edited, is a bit more personal to me in that it deals with the subject of dementia (so trigger warning now). My grandfather had Alzheimers for a few years before he died back in February this year (2019) and, whilst I don't talk specifically about Alzheimers in this story and ended up bending the truth about it somewhat to make it fit the story, I wanted to write a little something to remember him as I didn't get a chance to see him too much in his final years. One thing I will always remember about him is that when he did smile, it was a bit like All Might's, unwavering.

Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia, any of it's film adaptations or the manga.

Disclaimer: Cover image courtesy of

* * *

**Chapter 1**

They said it would be difficult, the doctors that is. They said that things wouldn't be the same again and it would only get harder and harder as time went on. Izuku Midoriya never knew how hard it truly was, until his 16th birthday at least.

Izuku, or Deku as he was known to some, had a hard life growing up. In a world where having quirks was normal, Izuku was not normal. He was given the unfortunate news at the tender age of four that he would not develop a quirk, based on all known knowledge of quirks and when they develop in children. It would be some years before he accepted that, but he would always hold on in hope that he could at least attend the most prestigious hero school in all of Japan, U.A. His hope? To become the first quirkless hero.

As fate would have it, Izuku was fortunate enough to cross paths with the number one hero, All Might, who would eventually bestow upon him his own quirk, One for All. One for All was and still is, a closely guarded secret that very few people know about, so few, that even his own mother, Inko wasn't aware of the secret. Izuku had lied to his mother about how his quirk manifested in order to protect the secret. However, Izuku wasn't the only one keeping secrets. Inko was hiding her own secret from her son, a secret that broke her heart, a secret that would break her son's heart.

About four years earlier, Inko had been out shopping for groceries whilst Izuku was at school. She had picked up the usual things, bread, milk, fish, vegetables, rice, basically meals for the next few days. It wasn't until she was on her way home one night that she had felt a bit light headed and stumbled to one side. She had managed to regain her balance before falling over and took a minute to compose herself before continuing home.

She had thought nothing of it at the time and chalked it up to one of those things that sometimes happens to people. When she had got home that day, she put the kettle on and had a cup of tea and relaxed for a while. As time went on, more and more things began to happen. Every once in a while, she would have the issue where she stumbled and once, completely fell over although she wasn't hurt, a bit shocked and surprised if anything. She had also found that she was losing small chunks of time and figured that she had been staring off in to space, though she could never remember what it was that she was thinking about.

There were also the small tremors in her hands. She had begun to get the tremors about ten months ago, most notably whenever she was preparing food for a meal and had managed to cut herself a number of times in doing so. There was one time where she had to threw out an entire meal as she had gotten blood over it with how deep she had managed to cut herself.

She had never wanted to believe that there was anything wrong, however Izuku had also noticed these problems, prior to the tremors and had asked his mother about it two years ago. She did admit to her son that something wasn't quite right and had agreed that she would go see a doctor. Inko had thought that she was maybe having some kind of deficiency of vitamins and that the doctor would simply prescribe some.

It took her a week before she could see the doctor, mostly because she had no memory of even making the appointment in the first place and was utterly confused when Izuku had asked when she was going to see the doctor. The two of them went through the same conversation and Inko phoned her doctor and made the appointment right there with Izuku as her witness. They even wrote it down and stuck it to the fridge so that neither of them would forget. Thankfully she had not forgotten the second time round and made it to the doctors.

A number of tests were done, firstly she was given physical tests (as it had been some time since she had turned up to have her physical well being checked) and she more or less passed them. Then they moved on to a few cranial tests, namely to do with her senses and reflexes. After all the tests were done, the doctor had advised her that they would take some time to study the results and give her a call to let her know if there was anything serious that needed further discussion as nothing else was apparent at the time, so Inko thanked her doctor and made her way home.

It was about a week later that the doctor had phoned her and asked her to come in and see them to discuss the results. Inko was understandably worried but tried not to dwell on it too much, lest she panicked for nothing. However, she was right to worry. When she reached her doctors, they asked her to take a seat and she waited for about ten minutes before being called in.

The doctor had Inko sit down and began to explain her results. She wasn't prepared for what the doctor had to say:

"I'm sorry to say Mrs Midoriya, but you have early signs of dementia." he said.

Inko was shocked to say the least, mortified even. How could she have dementia? She was only 37 years of age, although not impossible, it was a condition associated with older people generally. She was beside herself, hysterical even as the information slowly processed through her mind as the doctor tried to calm her some.

After some time discussing symptoms, treatments and long-term repercussions, Inko left the doctor's office in a daze, her mind trying to come to terms with what she had been told. If you asked her that day about how she got home, she would have struggled to tell you, not because of the dementia but simply that she was too focused on what she had been told that day that she simply moved on autopilot until she got home.

She stood outside the door to their apartment, wiping away any last tears and taking a deep breath before entering her home. Her son would be home by now as she had left in the mid-afternoon to go see her doctor. She had left him a note telling him to start preparing dinner and she would be home as soon as she could. She closed the door behind her and took off her jacket before calling out to her son;

"Izuku sweetie, I'm home!".

"Oh, hey mom!" he replied from the kitchen.

"Did you have a good day at school today dear?" she asked as she rounded the door and in to the kitchen.

"Yeah, it was an alright day. How did things go at the doctors? Did they say anything about what's been happening?" he asked her.

Inko didn't have the heart to tell her son just yet, she needed some more time to process it before letting her son know. He had every right to know, this was going to affect him some day, just as much as it was going to affect her, if not more.

* * *

The next day after Inko had woke up, she got herself washed up and dressed for the day and made her way to the kitchen. She began to make breakfast and decided to make pancakes that morning, a favourite of Izukus. She wanted to make sure that he was in the best possible mood before she told him what the doctor had really said. As she was finishing the last few pancakes before adding them to the stack, Izuku made his way in to the kitchen;

"Wow mom, smells great" he said, salivating at the stack placed on the table.

"Well I thought we would have pancakes for a change. Don't forget, there's syrup in the cupboard if you want some" she told him.

Izuku went in to one of the lower cupboards and pulled out a bottle of maple syrup. It wasn't something that they found easily and had to get it from a speciality shop, which was one of the reasons they didn't have pancakes too often, the syrup was rather expensive so they used it sparingly.

After he poured some syrup on the stack and placed the bottle back in the cupboard, he took a seat at the table and began eating with gusto.

"Wow mom, tastes really good" he said, happily munching away.

"I'm glad you're enjoying them. How did you sleep last night Izuku?" she asked.

"I slept well" he said as he smiled at his mother.

Inko smiled back at him, his face all lit up. She knew his smile wasn't going to last for long, she needed to tell him and this was going to be as good a time as any. She allowed him the chance to finish his breakfast first whilst she drank some green tea, often staring into the cup and pondering how she was going to start the discussion.

As she was thinking during her latest zoned out moment, Izuku placed his utensils back on the plate, clattering them enough that it broke Inko out of her trance;

"That was great mom. I'm gonna go wash up" he said as he made to leave.

Just before he got out of his chair, Inko ushered him to stay, this was it, her best chance to explain this;

"Izuku honey, could you wait a moment, there's something we need to talk about" she announced.

"Huh, yeah sure mom, what is it?" he asked surprised at her suddenness.

She had thought about this last night for long periods and hadn't really come to a conclusion on how to start off. She had been thinking about it all morning and was still no closer to how to go about it. In the end, she decided she would have to be direct about it;

"Izuku, sweetie, remember when I said yesterday that the doctors told me that I had a vitamin deficiency?" she asked her son.

"Uh huh, I remember, what about it?" he questioned.

"Well…I…I-I…I wasn't telling you the truth" she stammered out before taking a deep breath to steady her nerves.

"…W-What do you mean?" he asked in a confused tone.

"I didn't want to upset you yesterday, but you have a right to know Izuku. It's not a vitamin deficiency. The truth is…the truth…the truth my baby boy is that…I have early symptoms of…dementia" she eventually got out.

Izuku's eyes widened. Dementia? His mom? No way, there had to be some mistake;

"W-What? No! That can't be! You're not old! Only old people get that!" he yelled, his voice a mixture of hurt, surprise, panic and fear. Tears were flowing down his cheeks.

Inko had a small chuckle to herself to hear her son say, indirectly of course, that she wasn't old. That however, was were anything funny about this ended, she had to muster up the courage to explain it to him as best as she could and as best as he could understand;

"I know Izuku honey, but there's more to it than that. Dementia can hit anyone, in different forms. Yes, it's more likely to occur in older people but that doesn't mean it can't happen to younger people too, although much less likely" she explained.

"B-but what does this mean? Are you going to die?" he asked, the last question hitching in his throat at he fought back the sobs.

"Well dear, someday yes, but not anytime soon. The form of dementia I have is called Dementia with Lewy bodies. It's not the most common but it still causes problems. You could say it's a slow bloomer. They told me that on average, most people with dementia live for an average of about eight years" she further explained.

"So…so you've got eight years left?" he asked, his face still wet with tears.

"Well, it could be more or less, there's no way to tell" she said, her face now downtrodden.

She then looked back up and took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze;

"But you listen Izuku, we will fight this, I will fight this and we'll support each other every step of the way" she declared and followed it with a smile.

Izuku, looked at his mom, the determination she had to not let this get her down. He in turn smiled back at her before they embraced each other in a loving hug, neither of them wishing to let go so they sat there for almost a full five minutes before relinquishing.

After wiping his face to rid himself of the tears he had been crying, he then mustered up the courage to ask another question;

"So…what happens now? How do we go about this?" he asked.

"Well, the doctor has given me a prescription for pills to start taking right away. They should slow down the effects of this disease. Hopefully, they'll find a cure for it whilst the medication still works. Although it'll be years before the medication isn't as effective or, they find a cure" she told him.

"So, when will…things change?" he asked, not really wanting an answer.

"Only time will tell honey, there's no set time for things like this, it'll just happen over time and we'll need to be ready to deal with it" she told him with a confident smile.

* * *

Present day, and Izuku was waking up on a Saturday morning, eyes bleary as he slowly sat up, looking over to his bedside table for the vibrating sound coming from it, along with a chiming sound. He picked up his phone and swiped at the screen to turn off his alarm. Seeing the time as 5am, he slowly placed the phone back on the table and swung his legs off the side of his bed. He got up and went in to his bathroom, using the facilities and then taking a morning shower.

After his shower and drying himself off, he put on some clothes for the day and made his way out of his room and in to the hallway. He walked to the stairs and made his way down until he reached the common area of the dorms. It had been a wild year for Izuku, the sludge villain, meeting all might, the ten months of training, getting in to UA, getting his provisional licence and now, currently residing in the Heights Alliance dorms of UA due to the constant attacks on the class of 1-A.

He made his way in to the kitchen and made himself a light morning snack, picked up a protein bar and got a glass of water. He sat down at the table and began eating, only to notice someone else was up at this early hour. Sitting on the couch looking annoyed yet tired was Jiro;

"Hey Jiro, what are you doing up?" he asked.

"Hey Midoriya, nothing, couldn't get back to sleep since, oh I don't know, someone's alarm went off at 5am" she growled at the green haired boy.

"W-What? But, I'm a floor under you!" he stammered back.

"Really? You know just about everything about everyone's quirks, right? Surely you can see the problem here?" she asked rhetorically, whilst pointing at one of her lobes.

**(A/N: Only remembered whilst reading this that Jiro's room is actually sound proof but I would rather just not re-write this part so go with it please)**

_'Oh…ooooooooohhhhhhh', _he thought to himself.

"I'm sorry Jiro, I just wanted an early start is all" he said apologetically.

Jiro sighed, "It's ok, it's my fault really. I normally wear ear plugs and put something over my jacks so that I can sleep, otherwise I'm up every five minutes of the night" she explained with a yawn.

"That must suck" Izuku pointed out.

"Yeah, it does, doesn't matter though I'll just grab an energy drink and use that to keep me up through the day" Jiro replied.

"So, what's got you up early today anyway Midoriya?" she asked.

"Oh well…" he began, pausing for a moment to decide how vague he wanted to be, "I thought I'd go visit my mom since we haven't seen each other in a while" he replied.

"Cool, maybe I should think about visiting the folks" she replied, before seemingly mulling it over in her head and turned back to him, "in like…a week or…a month…maybe".

Izuku had just finished his breakfast and put the glass in the dishwasher that they had in the kitchen.

"Well, if I were you, I'd take the chance while you have it to maybe try and get a bit more sleep, besides maybe Iida and Yaoyorozu nobody else will likely be up before eight so you might get another hour or so of sleep before you start that energy drink" he offered.

Jiro looked at him for a moment before getting up and walking over to him;

"You know what Midoriya, you're right, maybe I can get a bit more sleep, thanks" she said with a soft smile as she patted him on the shoulder before walking off towards the stairs.

Izuku stood there for a moment with a light blush on his cheeks as he only now realised that he held a conversation with a girl and hadn't really blushed once…until she had gotten close to him that was. It only lasted a few seconds however and soon his face lost that hint of red, though it could have been worse, had it been a particular chestnut brown haired young woman talking to him instead of Jiro. Ochaco Uraraka, his best friend and his crush all rolled in to one. He knew he liked her, though it had taken some time for that thick skull of his to realise it. He wasn't sure how Ochaco felt about him but truthfully, he didn't want to get in to any kind of relationship with her, at least not right away. Mostly because of his shyness and he wasn't really sure how he could even go about it. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that Mr Aizawa had explicitly prohibited from day one for any of them to get involved.

No problem, he could live with admiring her from afar. After all, he was pretty used to keeping himself isolated away from others so it was nothing new to him. And wouldn't you know as luck would have it, that very special person walked in to the room looking as though someone had dragged her out of bed. Ochaco hadn't even noticed Izuku as she walked towards him;

"H-hi Uraraka" said Izuku shakily, his heart catching in his throat. It didn't matter if she was just up with bed hair, she still looked like the prettiest and most beautiful girl in the world to him.

"Morning Deku" she lazily replied as she walked by him, only to stop a moment later and realise who exactly she had said hello to.

"Deku! You're up!" she said more than asked.

"Yeah…I-I wanted an early start. Why are you up so early?" he asked her.

"Oh well…I fell asleep quite early last night and…my body refuses to go back to sleep" she replied slightly embarrassed.

"Really? Well I suppose you can get an early start to your day then" he replied with a smile across his face. This perked up Uraraka as well, his bright and eager face filling her with positivity;

"Yeah I suppose you're right" she smiled back.

"So, what are up early for anyway Deku?" she asked as she turned towards the kitchen and made her way to the fridge.

"Uh! Well I'm…gonna go visit my mom today. Kinda needed to be up a bit earlier than normal. That and I want to get in some early training before I head off" he replied sheepishly.

"Same old Deku, always trying to train even on days off" she replied with a smile whilst collecting food to take with her back to her room.

"Well don't let me stop you" she replied as she made her way out of the kitchen, food in hand.

As she walked by him, she stopped and placed a hand on his shoulder before speaking up;

"Don't overdo it and have a good time today" she said with a warm smile on her face.

"T-Th-Thanks" he managed to stammer out.

She then removed her hand from his shoulder and continued walking out of the room;

"Bye Deku" she said before leaving the room altogether.

Izuku stood there again, blush on his face realising that he now held a conversation with TWO girls that day and somehow managed to survive.

_'Man, two girls in one day, luck must really be on my side'_ he thought.

How unfortunate for Izuku Midoriya that he had no idea that luck was most certainly not on his side today.

* * *

He had managed to get his early work out in before most of his friends had awoken, save for Iida. Yaoyorozu had slept in which was very unlike her and Tsuyu and Kirishima had been up and about whilst he was still at Heights Alliance. He suspected a good number of people had woken up but simply stayed in their rooms.

He was currently at the train station waiting to get on. His destination wasn't terribly far but in order to spend the most amount of time with his mother, it would be easier taking the train and saving that little bit of time.

He eventually boarded the train and after another five minutes of waiting, the train took off. He didn't have long to wait as the journey on train was only about fifteen minutes. Truthfully, with all the waiting he did he could probably have walked most of the way there by now.

He left the train station and made his way in to town. He knew this route rather well, it was the same one he took every time he went to visit his mother. The same route she had shown him three years ago. Inko had prepared ahead of time as best she could and Izuku made sure to never forget anything that his mother had said about visiting her.

Eventually, he happened upon a plain looking building. From the outside there was nothing special about this building, save for the mixture of bars and fencing/grates placed on all the windows. Believe it or not, this was actually a safety precaution.

Izuku wasn't just visiting his mom, no he was VISITING his mom…in Musutafu Hospital for Mental Health. He had been a few times previously and today was no different, other than what he was about to discover.

He entered the building and remembered straight away why he didn't like this place. The lights pointed at the door were overly bright and caused headaches to anyone unfortunate enough to be sitting under them for long enough. The room itself needed a new coat of paint…or six and there was a damp musty smell coming from somewhere, although he wasn't sure if that was the building or the patients…he shuddered at the thought.

He walked up to the reception and announced his arrival. The nurse at the desk who looked to be in her late forties, early fifties recognised Izuku and pointed him in the direction of his mother's room.

Inko had her own room with some of their possessions from home to make everything seem as normal as possible. Though not everything could be taken from home due to safety concerns so a lot of objects were left. Photo frames for example that were square or rectangular had to be left and were replaced by round frames and the glass inside replaced with plastic, little things like this.

Inko understood the necessity but whenever she had an episode, trivial things like that wouldn't matter. The last time Izuku visited, his mother had an episode, something he had only seen a few times before. It always scared him whenever it happened as it was all still new, despite being aware of her condition for years, he was never prepared for something quite like this.

He arrived at the door and knocked on it, waiting for her to let him know to come in. After a few moments there was nothing but silence. He knocked again, yet still there was silence. He cautiously opened the door;

"Mom? Are you awake?" he asked tentatively, he thought maybe she was just napping. The newest medication she was on had a tendency to make her more tired and caused her to take more naps during the day.

He still didn't get a response and pushed the door fully open, turning to flick on the light switch. The light came to life, illuminating the room so he could see everything…everything except;

"Mom?" he asked again quizzically. He looked at the neatly made bed that was unoccupied, he checked the bathroom where the door was wide open yet empty. He checked closet spaces and the sorts but there was simply no sign of his mother anywhere.

Eventually, he assumed she must be doing some sort of recreational activity somewhere in the building. He switched the light off and closed the door to the room before making his way back to the reception;

"Excuse me but, my mom isn't in her room. Do you know where she might be?" he asked.

The receptionist raised a curious eyebrow;

"Really? Um…let me go check with the doctors and nurses" the woman hesitated before getting up and making her way through to the back.

Izuku didn't like that answer, she didn't seem too sure herself where his mother had gone off to. After waiting for about ten minutes, one of the nurses and a doctor came out to see him;

"Mr Midoriya?" the doctor asked.

"Y-yeah?" he replied.

"Hi I'm Doctor Haruto. I'd like to talk to you about your mother, would you join us in a private room please?" the doctor asked gingerly.

Izuku was beginning to panic, this didn't sound good at all. Hurriedly he followed the doctor and nurse in to the private room. He'd been in this room once before, when he and his mother had first arrived here to discuss the situation and plans for her care.

"Mr Midoriya, I'll get straight to the point" the doctor said as he took a seat at the table with Izuku taking a seat opposite. The nurse simply stood behind the doctor, looking rather nervous at the following conversation;

"Your mother…she's…went missing" he said.

"…M-missing? B-but how? When?" Izuku started to stammer at this, he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. He entrusted his mother's care to these people and they let her go missing.

"I'm afraid so. She was here this morning when we did our daily rounds so it could only have been in the last few hours that she's went missing. As for the how, we're not quite sure. Our best guess was during the shift change between the nightshift and the dayshift but we don't have any camera footage of her leaving, unfortunately the system is broken in all the right places for her to sneak out, at least we assume she snuck out of her own accord" he explained.

"T-this…this can't be real, right?" he asked, hoping that they were simply playing a cruel practical joke on him.

"I'm afraid it is. We've already contacted the local police and gave them a description of her. We stressed to them about her condition so as to not put her under any due stress that might trigger an episode" Haruto continued to explained.

"So…what do we do now?" asked Izuku, momentarily composing himself.

"I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do at this time, not until she's found at least. In the meantime, we'll put a rush order in for getting security fixed as clearly there is a problem here" admitted the doctor.

"Oh…ok" said Izuku as he looked down at the ground dejectedly.

"I'm really sorry Mr Midoriya, please forgive us" the doctor asked as he stood up and bowed down along with the nurse.

"Y-yeah…sure…" he said not taking his eyes off the ground. Izuku then stood up and made his way for the door.

"If we find out anything, anything at all, we'll call you straight away" the doctor rushed to say before the boy could leave.

"Uh huh…sure, ok" Izuku said, not even turning to look back as he made his way out of the room and towards the exit. The doctor and nurse both looked at each other with a solemn look on each of their faces.

After leaving the hospital, Izuku walked aimlessly for a while before he found an alleyway and went in to it, sitting behind a dumpster. He leaned against the wall and began to hyperventilate, emotions running wild within him. How? How could they lose her? She was his whole world, his biggest supporter, his mom. And now she's missing and they not only don't know where she is but can't even do anything about it.

Arcs of green lightning were shooting about his body, his quirk becoming harder to control. Upon realising this, he attempted to steady his breathing, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down. The lightning subsided and he stopped hyperventilating. He was still emotional though, realising that his cheeks were wet, he must have been crying and not realised, too focused on keeping his quirk in check.

Eventually, he got back up and made his way out of the alleyway. He realised that he had walked away from the hospital in the opposite direction from where he was meant to be going, figures. Only he could go the wrong way in a daze. His phone began to buzz in his pocket and he reached his hand in and pulled out his cellphone;

"Uraraka? I wonder what she wants?" he asked himself. He took a breath and hit the answer button.

"Hey Uraraka?" he asked with confusion.

"Uh…hey Deku?" came the voice of his best friend.

"H-hi Uraraka, what's up?" he asked nervously, talking to girls was still something new to him, especially when one was phoning him.

"Oh nothing, I was just curious, didn't you say you were going to visit your mom today?" she asked with confusion.

"Y-yeah?" he replied, his curiosity peaking.

"Well, a woman showed up at the gates claiming to be your mom. After a few security checks she was cleared to come in and visit you. She's very nice, I can see where your personality comes from" she explained, with a slight blush at the last part, she probably didn't need to add that.

"Wait, WHAT? She's there with you?" he asked with slight panic in his voice. Nobody knew about the situation with her condition.

"Yeah, is there a problem?" she asked, confused by his outburst.

"Maybe. Listen Uraraka, I need to know, do you trust me?" he asked, his voice shifting to a serious tone.

"What? Of course I do? Deku what's wrong?" she asked, now slightly panicked by his sudden seriousness and outburst.

"Just promise me you'll keep her there, do not let her out of your site, I'll explain everything later ok?" he asked, though more commanded.

"Sure, I guess but please Deku, just tell me what's going o-" she asked before being cut off. He had hung up. Something wasn't right, Deku was panicking and when Deku panicked, trouble usually followed.

* * *

**Thanks for reading the first chapter. Originally this was going to be created as a one shot but honestly, I think it's a bit better for this story to be broken up in to a few chapters. Although I've seen one shots with around 10k words and what I've written (so far) is just shy of that, I think it flows slightly better and allows you a break rather than trying to read the whole thing and decide part way through that you want to take a break.**


	2. Chapter 2

Looks like this is gonna be three chapters long.

Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia, any of it's film adaptations or the manga.

* * *

Chapter 2

Ochaco walked back in from the hallway of their dorms where she had been on the phone to Izuku. She found Inko was talking to some of her classmates, namely Iida and Tsuyu, whilst there was an assortment of others in the living and kitchen areas.

Momo and Todoroki were sitting on a couch in the living area with Kirishima standing behind them. Mina and Toru were standing behind the couch that Iida and Tsuyu were sitting on. Sato, Kaminari and Mineta were all in the kitchen area. And Bakugou was leaning against a wall at the back of the room, although he was simply staring at the floor, not wanting to look the woman in the eye, after all the things he done to Izuku, how could he look her in the eye.

The group had introduced themselves to her and most of them had been talking about her son and how much of a great friend and student he was, even complimenting Inko herself for everything she had done for him and how much alike they were;

"Oh stop it, you're all too kind. It's wonderful to meet you all, I'm just glad my Izuku has such wonderful friends. He didn't exactly have the best time growing up, isn't that right Katsuki?" she asked, glaring over at the explosive teen.

Bakugou looked up for a moment, like a deer caught in the headlights as some of the others turned to look at him. He looked down again and to his right, choosing not to say anything.

An awkward moment passed before Inko began to speak again;

"Anyway, the reason why I'm here is because, as I'm sure you know, it's my Izuku's birthday tomorrow and I won't be able to celebrate with him so I thought I would surprise him with a party. Although I guess now it will be a surprise party" she beamed looking towards the students.

"That sounds like a great idea Mrs Midoriya" said Iida before standing up to address the room.

"Alright everyone, listen up, we need to get this place ready for Midoriya before he gets here. Yaoyorozu, would you be kind enough to create some decorations for us?" asked Iida.

"Of course, it would be my pleasure" replied Momo as she pulled up the t-shirt she was wearing to expose her abdomen before using her quirk to begin making decorations.

"Excellent, Sato, do you think you could bake some food, preferably of the finger variety for this party?" he then asked the expert baker.

"Sure thing, I've got some cinnamon rolls already make, a pecan pie that's not long out and some smaller apple pies that'll be due out in a few minutes. I can make a few more additions to the menu" replied the sugary hero.

"Great, Sero, would you mind using quirk to help put the decorations up?" he then asked the tape hero.

"Sure, no problem" replied Sero.

"Everyone else, grab some decorations and help put them up or grab some food and set it out" commanded Iida.

There was a mixture of enthusiastic cheers, others not so much but still cheering nonetheless.

"Oh you kids are too kind" said Inko.

"Please Mrs Midoriya, it's no trouble at all, Izuku is our friend and classmate. It's only right that we should do something worthy on his birthday" said Iida with his robotic karate chop actions.

"Hey Iida, can I borrow you for a minute?" asked Ochaco as she decided to step further into the room now that Iida had given out duties for everyone to do.

"Uraraka! Of course. Excuse me, I will return momentarily Mrs Midoriya" said Iida before turning to follow Ochaco out of the room.

"Is something the matter Uraraka?" asked Iida.

"I'm not sure, I phoned Deku to tell him his mom was here, that was before I knew she was here to throw a party for him of course, but something seemed off. He was panicked and asked to make sure she didn't leave no matter what" she explained to him.

"Hmm…that does sound strange, any idea what he was worried about?" he asked.

"Not a clue, he hung up before I really got a chance to ask" she replied.

"The best thing we can do now would be to move forward with the party plans but keep an eye on Mrs Midoriya, just in case there truly is something the matter" suggested Iida.

"I guess we'll have to. I hope he gets here soon" she replied.

The two teens made their way back to the main room where the conversation was continuing;

"So Mrs Midoriya, what was Izuku like when he was younger?" asked Mina as she was setting out some of the food.

"He was just the brightest young boy, full of energy and always eager to help. Gosh you should have seen his All Might collection, he couldn't get enough of the number one hero" she said.

"You should see his room now, it still is" replied Tsuyu as she was hanging a decoration on the wall using her tongue.

"I know, what you see in there is probably about half, the rest is either still in his room at home or somewhere in storage" she explained.

"Really? He might just be the biggest fanboy ever" exclaimed a grinning Kirishima.

"That man has really had such a big impression on him. I couldn't believe it when he told me he was one of his teachers" said Inko.

"Yeah, All Might's classes are some of the most fun" said Kaminari as he walked around holding decorations for Tokoyami to hang.

"That's wonderful to hear. Now, could someone point me in the direction of the little girls room?" asked Inko.

"There aren't any out here, you'll need to use the bathroom in one of our rooms" explained Toru.

"You can use mine if you'd like Mrs Midoriya" offered Ochaco, ensuring she could keep an eye on the woman.

"That would be wonderful dear thank you" said Inko.

* * *

Ochaco led Inko to her room in silence, since she didn't know what Deku was so worried about and she didn't know what to say to the woman. Still, she wasn't sure why he was so worried as she hadn't done or said anything to give them any kind of alarm. Her thoughts were interrupted when Inko began to speak;

"So, you're Ochaco right?" Inko began by asking.

"Huh? Oh yes, that's me" replied Ochaco snapping back to reality.

"It's nice to finally meet you dear. My Izuku has spoken very highly of you" she said, her face beaming with pride.

"He…has?" Ochaco could only say, surprise written all over her face.

"Oh yes. Anytime he visits me he tells me all about his classes and friends. He always makes special mention of you and…um…what was his name…Ten? Tender? Tending?" she explained, trying to remember Iida's name.

"Tenya?" offered Ochaco.

"Yeah…I think" replied Inko.

"Yeah it'll be him. I'm surprised he talks about us so much" she said to the older woman.

"Very much so, in fact, don't tell him I said anything but…I think he might have his eye on you" said Inko as she winked at Ochaco.

Well, the gravity hero in training didn't know where to look, her face breaking out in to the biggest blush she ever had before placing both of her hands fully on to her face trying to hide her embarrassment. She started to float in the corridor and Inko tried to stifle her laughter as she held her hand over her mouth.

Eventually, Ochaco gathered her wits enough to manoeuvre herself back towards the ground and deactivated her quirk to place her back on the floor. Ochaco didn't know what to say before she realised that they were outside her room;

"Em…so this is my room" she said as she opened the door, "and the bathroom is just back there. I'll just wait outside for you" she replied before stepping out of her room.

"Thank you dear. Do you mind if I ask you something?" Inko asked.

"Um…sure?" replied Ochaco, hoping that the answer wouldn't further embarrass her.

"Could you take a picture of me and you? You know like one of those selfies that kids these days are always taking" requested Inko.

"Uh…yeah of course" replied Ochaco, confused by the request.

The two squashed their heads together enough so that Ochaco could take a picture with her phone. Afterwards, Inko thanked the young woman and made her way inside the room.

'_OMG! Did that just happen? I can't believe his mom said that. Deku doesn't think that way…does he?' _she thought to herself. She slumped to the floor of the corridor with her back against the wall whilst she waited for Mrs Midoriya to return, '_I wonder why she wanted me to take the picture?'_

* * *

About five minutes had passed by and Mrs Midoriya hadn't come out yet. Despite its distance in the room, she had heard the toilet flush so she wondered what was taking so long. She decided to get up from the floor and rapped lightly on the door;

"Mrs Midoriya, are you okay in there?" she asked as she opened the door.

She opened the door enough to let her in, where she looked at Inko, sitting on the edge of her bed, staring off into space before looking at Ochaco, her eyes had begun to widen slightly as if on edge;

"Oh er, yes everything is fine" replied the older woman, although Ochaco wasn't convinced.

"O…k, ready to head back to the party? I'm sure Izuku will be here shortly" she said to the mother.

"S-sure, why not" replied Inko before steadily getting up and making her way to the door. Ochaco offered the woman a smile which was returned kindly.

The two women walked back to the main room, although Inko looked kind of shifty, something seemed off but Ochaco couldn't tell what;

"Are you alright Mrs Midoriya?" she questioned.

"Y-yes, of c-course, why wouldn't I be?" was the stuttered reply Ochaco received.

"Nothing, you just keep looking about is all" she replied, hoping to get a bit more information from the woman.

"Oh that, I'm just…taking everything in, I've never visited here before after all" was the response.

"Well that's understandable" replied Ochaco. She still wasn't convinced but she couldn't accuse the woman of lying without proof.

* * *

They returned to the party where more decorations had been put up and more party food had been put out, potato chips and nuts, soda cans of various brands strewn over the tables and a teapot with some freshly brewed green tea for those who wanted it.

"Okay, Sato has kindly agreed to make a second cake, we'll cut up the first cake into pieces ready to be eaten and we'll use the second cake for birthday candles and for Midoriya to make a wish on" stated Iida.

"A wonderful idea, I think that just about does it for the decorations" said Momo as she moved her t-shirt back over her abdomen, her brow slightly glistening with sweat due to her quirk use.

Momo decided to go and quickly freshen up and change her clothes due to the continued use of her quirk. As she stood and began to walk out of the room, she noticed Ochaco and Mrs Midoriya had returned but something seemed to be off. Ochaco looked fine but Mrs Midoriya seemed to be nervous, if Momo didn't know any better she would have said the older woman looked paranoid.

"Are you alright Mrs Midoriya?" questioned Momo.

Inko looked around to Momo, then looked at all the other kids in the room. Some had turned to look at Momo surprised at the question, some turned to Inko to see her response, some looked to Ochaco for any signs of a problem and anyone who hadn't noticed were just going about their business, but everyone whose attention had been grabbed seemed to be waiting on something happening. Inko however, wasn't going to hang around, she slowly stepped towards the table where the cake was. not taking her eyes off of Momo before quickening her pace.

Ochaco, Momo and everyone else watched with curiosity as to what the green haired woman was doing exactly, not realising her intentions. Thanks to her quirk, Inko didn't need to reach the table to get what she wanted. The cake that had been cut in to pieces was left on the table, however so was the knife used to cut it. Inko used her quirk to pull the knife towards her and grabbed it by the handle as it approached.

She began to swing it wildly towards anyone that was relatively close to her;

"Get back! Get back! Who are you people in my home? Where is my son?" said the older woman as she began to take small steps, backing away from the people in the room.

Everyone who was already watching the scene unfold suddenly became alert at the situation, although they were still confused. The commotion then grabbed the attention of everyone else still in the room.

Bakugou looked up from the floor to see what was happening. He was as confused as everyone else, Deku's mom snapping like that was weird, but what was stranger still was what she said, "her home", where did she think she was anyway? Something wasn't adding up, he'd need to ask that shitty Deku later, right now, they needed to defuse the situation. He made his way over to some of the other students and joined the group who were now gathered in the living area.

"Mrs Midoriya, I'm sorry if we've offended you somehow but please, put the knife down and let us talk this out rationally" said Iida trying to help calm the woman down.

"No! I don't know who you people are but you need to leave now! This is my home and I won't have anyone come in here, intimidate me and take my son from me!" yelled back the woman.

It was clear to everyone that something wasn't right, the fact that the woman had a knife was one thing, but everyone was confused by her statement;

"Um Mrs Midoriya, I'm afraid you're confused, we're the ones who live here. You're _our_ guest" said Mina with a blank yet confused expression on her face.

"No! You won't trick me! Now tell me where my son is and then get out" she continued to yell.

"De…Izuku is on his way home just now. He shouldn't be too long" said Ochaco, tentatively taking small steps towards the woman. By this point everyone in the dorm was now in the living area, some were in small groups behind the couches, others just standing around but they had all managed to form a semi-circle of sorts, effectively trapping the woman who had slowly backed her way into the corner of the room.

"I don't believe you! You're just trying to steal him from me, my precious, sweet Izuku who has done nothing wrong in this world other than been quirkless. You'll just torment him more, break his heart and his spirit" she continued to yell.

Ochaco had slowly managed to shuffle herself towards the woman. The others had watched Ochaco with bated breath, ready to step in if things took a turn.

"Please Mrs Midoriya, we're not trying to take your son away. We're trying to help him be the best he can be, he's our friend" said Ochaco trying to persuade the woman that they weren't out to get her son.

"Please, just put the knife down and let us talk about it, please?" pleaded Ochaco, she was within just a few feet of the woman now. Inko considered it for a moment, before realising the students had all shuffled closer and because they had somehow formed this semi-circle that they were in, she felt threatened and decided that she was no longer talking.

Inko lunged at Ochaco with the knife pointed straight at her, for everyone else in the room it was a sight that had you asked them that morning, would have been the last thing they thought they'd be seeing, yet now, it seemed like a moment frozen in time.

For Ochaco however, her training in Gunhead's martial arts thankfully paid off as she grabbed Inko's wrist, much like she did Toga at the training camp and swung her around, only she wasn't able to catch the back of Inko's neck to force her to the ground, at best only pushing her and aiding her momentum.

She swung the older woman around in a complete circle and they both ended up right back to where they were, except Inko reacted and made another lunge for Ochaco. This time Ochaco froze, terror in her eyes that this sweet woman that was Deku's mom was now trying to hurt her, time slowing down as the tip of the knife edged ever closer to her.

Suddenly, there was a whooshing sound within the room and a force pushed Ochaco forward slightly but not so much that she got any closer to the crazed woman with green hair. Although, Ochaco looked up after regaining her balance and indeed could see the green haired woman, only over the shoulder of another green mop of hair.

There stood Izuku, a firm grip on his mother's wrist, in between his mom and his best friend. The look on his face was not one of anger, but sadness. Ochaco couldn't see this as she was standing behind Deku;

"D-Deku?" she managed to say, albeit at a whisper.

"Uraraka, are you alright?" he asked without turning around.

She didn't answer, she was too stunned from what was happening to reply. Everyone else simply watched on stunned as well before a gruff voice spoke up;

"DEKU! What the hell is going on you nerd?" shouted Bakugou.

"I'll explain later. Mom, I need you to put the knife down" he stated to his mother firmly but gently.

Inko looked at her son, her features turning from crazed to loving;

"Izuku darling, you're ok! These heathens haven't hurt you, have they?" Inko asked with worry in her voice.

"No mom" said Izuku as he looked downtrodden at the question she was asking.

"Great, now I'm going to have to ask you all to leave, especially this…hussy" said the woman as she looked around the room before settling her eyes on Ochaco. Izuku turned to look over his shoulder to see Ochaco, a bewildered look on his face.

Ochaco didn't know what was going on, but she was not happy at being called a hussy, in fact she was offended and very hurt at the words that were used.

Ochaco took a few steps back and looked at the ground, trying very hard to hold back the tears that threatened to take over her. She had very nearly been stabbed, by her best friends' mother no less, then the same woman, who had asked her to take a selfie of them both, now called her a hussy.

Ochaco continued to back away before turning and running out of the room, tears only now streaming down her eyes but fortunately nobody had seen the tears as she exited the room and went straight for her dorm room.

"Uraraka, wait!" exclaimed Izuku, trying to have her stop and listen to what he had to say. What he had to say though, was going to be one of the toughest things he'd ever do in his life.

The rest of the teenagers looked confused and murmuring could be heard between them all, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Mom, they live here" Izuku eventually replied to her earlier statement.

"Nonsense, just look over there at…at…" Inko began saying as she trailed off.

Izuku looked back at the woman who slowly took in her surroundings;

"Izuku…baby…what? What's going on? Where am I? Why am I holding a knife?" Inko asked, yelping as she realised she was holding a knife before summarily dropping it on to the ground and clasping her hands over her mouth.

"It's alright mom" he said as he pulled her in to a hug. He leaned back against the wall, his mother still in a tight hug as he heard her sob. He looked up to see the rest of his classmates just staring at him. He didn't know what to say or do other than stay in this hug. Eventually, Momo realised that they were all staring;

"Alright everyone, shows over, let's clear out here and give them a minute. We can find out everything later" shouted Momo as everyone began leaving the room. Sato went back to the kitchen as he still had some things in the oven he didn't want to burn.

Momo stayed as she wanted to make sure nothing else happened. Iida also elected to stay as did Todoroki and surprisingly Bakugou made no move for the door either.

Both Midoriyas stood there for a few minutes until the front door opened and in walked All Might and Mr Aizawa, followed by two burly looking men;

"Midoriya, I think it would be best if we went outside!" stated Aizawa.

Izuku looked up towards where the voice had come from, understanding what needed to be done;

"C'mon mom, it's time to go" he ushered the woman towards the group of men.

"Wait, Izuku, just one last thing" she said before embracing him in one final hug. She whispered in to his ear before letting go and allowing herself to be escorted by the two men. Izuku followed them outside, along with Aizawa and All Might.

* * *

Ten minutes had passed and the student body, minus Ochaco had returned to the common area;

"Soooo…does someone mind explaining what the hell happened in here?" Mina asked to the room.

"Who knows? Maybe she was just drunk?" said Mineta

"Or drugged up?" said Kaminari.

Both boys were suddenly in pain before slumping to the ground, courtesy of Jiro's earphone jacks.

"Let's be serious you idiots. She was absolutely lovely earlier and there's no alcohol in this place. In fact, she was fine until she came back from the toilet with Uraraka" explained Jiro.

"Hey, where is she anyway?" asked Toru

"She said she wasn't coming out of her room and to give her some time, _ribbit_" said Tsuyu.

"Whatever her problem was, she was a total bitch to Uraraka" said Mina.

"Hey, that's not very fair, it's just like Jiro said, she was very nice until she went to the bathroom" started Kirishima before he was interrupted.

"And then she started acting all weird, telling you man, Kaminari and Mineta might be on to something" said Sero before he too was interrupted.

"You guys don't know shit" said Bakugou from the back of the room, his voice slightly raised.

"Huh…and who exactly made you an expert, hmmm?" asked Toru.

"I've known that woman almost my entire life. As much as I hate to say sappy shit like this, she's the sweetest woman on the planet. Hell, she's the biggest fucking ray of sunshine you could meet, second only to that damn nerd Deku" stated Bakugou, loudly enough so that the whole room could hear.

"Whatever her problem was, it wasn't related to drink or drugs, and I don't want to hear another one of you idiots even suggest it or I'll beat you my damn self" shouted Bakugou before he left to go back to his dorm room.

The common room was silent for a moment as he left, everyone was looking at each other, wondering where they went from here. Eventually the teenagers all started going back to their usual business.

All of the girls went to check up on Ochaco to make sure she was alright. Sato returned to the kitchen once more (he still had a cake he was finishing), Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari and Mineta played video games in the common room, Iida went to study and Todoroki and Koda joined him.

Shoji and Tokoyami stood idly by the window, keeping an eye (or eyes in Shoji's case) to see if Midoriya would return anytime soon. Aoyama was taking selfies to make sure he was still sparkling and Ojiro was quietly meditating in the corner of the room.

Time passed on and what was minutes, became hours as dinner came and all of the students had turned up to eat. They decided to eat something healthy as they were going to eat the food for Izuku's party as their desserts, seeing as the party was kind of a no-go at this point.

Izuku still hadn't returned and Ochaco was noticeably not present either;

"Hey, is Uraraka okay? I haven't seen her since this afternoon?" Kirishima directed the question to Momo.

"She's…taking the whole thing quite hard, actually" Momo reluctantly answered.

"Yeah, it's not even the attack that's got her wound up, there's something else there but she won't tell us and we can't convince her to leave her room yet" continued Jiro.

Just as the conversation got going, a door was heard being slammed shut. Everyone turned around to see who had caused all the noise. There in the doorway was Izuku, visibly breathing hard as if he had run a mile;

"Midoriya, is everything alright?" asked Iida in a concerned tone.

Izuku looked up to see his classmates all sitting in the common area and kitchen;

"Y-yeah...at least it will be" he said between breathes.

"Is everyone here, I have some things I'd like to say" announced Izuku.

"Ochaco is still in her room in her room. She won't come out, _ribbit_" said Tsuyu.

"Alright, if you wouldn't mind all staying here, I'll go get her and then say what I have to say" said Izuku before he turned and made his way towards the stairs.

Every one of the students were still confused, nothing had yet been explained but hopefully once Midoriya returned with Uraraka there would be some answers.

* * *

Midoriya had left the common room and had started up the stairs in search of Uraraka. He knew how she must be feeling, to be attacked in a place she considered sanctuary and by someone as surprising as Mrs Midoriya. He was angry and sad and frightened all rolled in to one, but right now he had to be strong so as to convince Uraraka to hear him out, followed by the rest of his classmates.

He reached the floor that her room was on and walked along the corridor until he found the door he wanted. He took a shaky breath, after all it was his mother who tried stabbing her and he was definitely nervous about this, before he rapped his knuckles on the door three times.

There was silence, not a sound was heard. He was about to knock again when he could hear something on the other side of the door;

"I'm fine, please go away" came the soft voice of Uraraka.

"It's me, Izuku" he said through the wooden door.

This garnethered the attention of Ochaco as moments later, the door creaked open and all he could see was an eye poke around the door;

"D-deku?" she asked inquisitively.

"Hey, can I come in?" he asked.

She stepped back and opened the door allowing him into the room. He walked past her and turned around as she closed the door. She slowly turned around and leaned against the door with her back, her head pointed at the floor trying to hide her face. He had already seen what she was trying to hide, her red puffy eyes, he'd spotted one when she peaked out the door.

"Uraraka, are you...are you ok? You weren't hurt were you?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"N-no, I'm fine, it's just...I wasn't...I wasn't expecting your mom to try and attack me and call me a hussy. I...I thought...thought we were getting on great. She told me that you speak of me and Iida often, how she was so happy that you were having a birthday with friends."

"I don't know what happened that she started acting the way she did or why she started attacking me. Did I do something wrong Deku? Did she not like me and her mind latched on to the idea that I was the problem?" she asked as tears started to pool in her eyes.

"Uraraka!" said Izuku sternly. Her head shot up, her eyes meeting his, her chestnut browns meeting his emerald greens.

"It wasn't your fault. You did absolutely nothing wrong, I asked you to keep an eye on her and you did. Thanks to your actions, nobody else was forced to take action against her. She does like you, she told me herself the last time I visited her." he went on to say before stepping up to her and enveloping her in a hug.

She couldn't believe it, how close he was and how forgiving he was, she was sure it was somehow her fault.

"I couldn't ask for a better friend Uraraka. Besides, you shouldn't be the one to apologise, if anything, I should apologise to you, it was my mom after all" he said, still hugging her. He had went beet red by this point but managed to maintain his composure, knowing that she needed to hear this.

"There is...something that I do have to say though" he continued, "something that will pretty much explain everything that went on today" he finished.

They parted, though Ochaco would have liked to sit there for another few minutes if she was being honest. She looked up to him, now with a bit of curiosity, he knew something...no not something, he knew exactly what happened;

"What is it?" she asked.

"I think it would be best if I told everyone at the same time, after all, every one of our friends was involved in this, so it's only fair that they receive an explanation as to what happened today" he said.

"Oh, ok" she replied.

"Do you think you feel up to coming out and sitting with everyone whilst I explain?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure, gimme like...10 minutes?" she replied, a smile slightly forming on her face.

"Sure, I'll see you out there" he said as he opened her door and let himself out.

"Deku" she called before he closed the door.

"Thanks" she said.

Izuku just smiled and nodded at her before closing the door and making his way back to the common room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Izuku returned to the common room to the sound of everyone talking. Once they noticed him returning, the conversation quietened down until someone spoke up;

"So, Midoriya, are you going to tell us what happened?" asked Todoroki.

"I-In a minute, just waiting on Uraraka to turn up and then I'll explain" he replied.

Everyone looked on at him but decided not to press the matter, after all, Uraraka was going to join them again and then they could all hear what he had to say.

It wasn't long before she had joined them, having changed out of her wrinkled clothes and cleaned herself up a bit, it almost looked like she hadn't been crying at all, almost.

"Hey everyone" she said as she re-entered the common room.

"Uraraka, I'm glad to see you doing well" said Iida.

"Thanks Iida" she replied as the girls grabbed her attention and she walked over to them, quickly hugging each girl before everyone turned their attention to the green haired boy;

"So, I'm guessing everyone is asking themselves just what exactly happened this afternoon?" asked Izuku.

The whole class nodded their heads or let out a small 'yeah', all except one;

"Would you hurry up and tell us ya damn Deku" yelled Bakugou.

"Hey, cut it out, let the man speak" chided Kirishima.

"Tsk" was all that was heard from Bakugou.

Izuku had placed himself in the centre of one of the three couches in the living area. He sat there and contemplated how to begin. He took a shaky breath before he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Yaoyorozu's hand placed there, before looking up at her;

"It's alright Midoriya, just take your time" she said with a smile.

"Thanks. Well, I suppose it started 4 years ago, my mom had been getting these tremors in her hands. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time since they would only seem to happen when her hands were idle. Eventually though other things started happening, she would suddenly lose her balance, though for the most part she never fell, she'd get a bit light-headed and on occasion she'd forget certain things, like having made a doctors appointment to see why these things were happening".

"She told me that she thought she wasn't getting enough vitamins and that the doctor would simply prescribe her something and tell her to start eating the right foods or take supplements or something, if only it had been that easy".

"About a week after she actually went to the doctors, she got a call for her to come in and discuss the results" he said.

Everyone sat or stood there in silence, waiting with bated breath for what he was going to say next.

"It wasn't a vitamin problem, or a sleep problem or any other kind of deficiency...i-it...it..." he started to trail off. Iida then sat next to him and put his hand on the other shoulder, like Yaoyorozu did earlier.

"It...w-was…" he gulped before getting right to the point.

"It was dementia" he stated, now looking at the ground, his arms resting on his knees and his body slightly hunched over.

Everyone in the room gasped, eyes wide in disbelief. Nobody quite knew what to think of this revelation.

"It wasn't drink or drugs then" said Mineta.

"Turns out she was just bat shit crazy" voiced Kaminari.

"KAMINARI!" yelled Jiro as both her ear jacks assaulted the poor electric boys ears.

"Hehehe" giggled Mineta before he found himself laying on the floor next to Kaminari.

He looked up to see the long tongue of Tsuyu and traced it back to the girls face where, instead of her calm expressionless face would normally be, was a frown from the aquatic hero.

Eventually after a long awkward silence filled the room, Momo spoke up;

"How long...how long has she been acting out...like today" she asked tentatively.

"Honestly, that's the first time she's ever acted aggressively. There have been episodes before today, the first was only days before we moved in to the dorms. Once that happened and we spoke to her doctor, she decided that it would be safer for everyone…" he said.

He stopped for a moment to try and regain control of his emotions,he needed to be strong right now until he got through this;

"Deku...what was she safer doing?" Ochaco audibly whispered.

He looked up to see those chestnut brown eyes looking at him, pleading to finish the sentence.

He took another steadying breath;

"She thought it would be safer if...she...voluntarily checked herself into Musutafu Hospital for Mental Health" he said, his emotions beginning to fault him slightly as a single tear rolled down his face.

Some of the other students began to tear up and like him, were trying their best to not let the floodgates open. Ochaco had two big fat tears roll down from each eye,Tsuyu's eyes began to water, Mina, Kaminari and Sero wiped tears from their eyes and Momo wiped away some as well before creating a box of handkerchiefs and started passing them around.

Iida pinched the bridge of his nose, Tokoyami closed his eyes and dropped his head as if in deep thought, though more likely was silently paying some respect to his classmate,comrade and friend. Todoroki however thought back to his own mother and her predicament. She too stayed in a mental health hospital not too far in fact from the one Mrs Midoriya was in.

He made a mental note to offer Midoriya some company the next time he planned to go and he would visit his own mother, once the situation was sorted out of course. He turned his attention back to the green haired boy;

"I'm no expert on these things but, Midoriya, doesn't that technically mean that...you're homeless?" Mina asked as she put two and two together.

The students wide eyes returned as the idea was put out there, surely he couldn't be homeless, right? The school wouldn't just let that happen, would they?

"W-well...yeah" he confirmed before continuing,"right now, I'm free to stay here under the schools protection but if that were to change then I would have been homeless" he finished.

"That's terrible" said Mina.

"Midoriya, are you ok? You and your mom have been living with this for four years, I'm sure it couldn't have been easy, _ribbit_" said Tsuyu.

"Y-yeah...it's...been difficult the last few years, this year especially" said Izuku.

"Why is that?" asked Iida.

"Well...my...m-my…" stammered Izuku.

Ochaco's head was all over the place, everything she was learning about Izuku's situation was tearing her apart inside, his mother's mental health for one, but now having learned about it, what about his mental health? He's shouldered the burden for some time now and not had any help from his friends. Yet, there was still more to tell?

"It's especially hard this year because...my dad died during an accident at work" he forced out, tears now streaming down both sides of his face.

The room stopped, everyone including Bakugou looked at the green haired boy, unable to comprehend just exactly how hard this was for him, they couldn't quite imagine being in his unenviable situation. Izuku continued;

"It still gets worse, mom took the news bad but then...then she...she…" Izuku tried to stammer out but was struggling to get by the wall of emotions hitting him.

"She keeps forgetting that it ever happened...doesn't she?" asked Momo who had figured out what was happening.

Izuku merely nodded his head in confirmation since by this point he had resigned his head to stare at the floor.

There wasn't a dry eye in the room, everyone had begun to cry to some extent, some more than others.

Todoroki showed no emotion whatsoever but turned away for a brief moment, contemplating just how hard the green haired boy must have had growing up the last few years, rivaling his own problems, possibly even surpassing his. He wiped away a tear before turning back around.

Bakugou similarly turned around to wipe away a single tear. He didn't care for Deku much at all, but he felt guilty for Mrs Midoriya, the woman who had every right to lash out at him and yet, even with the debilitating disease she still managed to bite her tongue and be kind to him.

Iida was again pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to take all of this in. He readjusted his glasses as he wiped the tears away from both eyes trying to stay composed enough to help, being the class representative and all.

Ochaco almost couldn't take it anymore, she had heard enough already and this last piece of information was just the icing on the cake. If she heard anymore of this she would likely break down more than Izuku himself was.

Everyone else was similarly either turning away to wipe their tears away or were simply not bothering. Kirishima kept making comments about just how manly Midoriya was being throughout his whole ordeal, Mina and Toru kept harping on about how much they just wanted to bundle him up in a blanket and protect him and Tokoyami kept Dark Shadow sitting on top of his face so as to hide the tears that he too was shedding, though would rather not admit.

"I-I...I...think I'm...gonna...go to my room...now" said Izuku as he slowly got up, still staring at the ground and began walking back towards the dorm rooms. Nobody tried to stop him, nobody called out to him or tried to grab on to him and comfort him, they just simply let him walk out of the common room.

They were too heartbroken themselves as most of them had had a chance to either talk to Mrs Midoriya or were at least listening in to a conversation with her. Nobody really knew where to go from there, some started talking to others in hushed tones, trying to figure out how they could either help Midoriya or even just figure out where to go from there.

Ochaco decided that somebody should go at least try to comfort him, after all, he just bore his wounds openly to everyone and none of them had said or did anything to at least try and help. They were all meant to be aspiring heroes, didn't hero work sometimes involve something other than fighting villains or rescuing civilians from disasters? Maybe sometimes, it just meant being a shoulder to lean on or being there for a friend.

Eventually the gathered students all broke off from the common room, some again went back to the kitchen, others went to their rooms, some went outside for some fresh air. Iida and Yaoyorozu decided to go and see Mr Aizawa or All Might and figure if there was anything else that they could do to help, seeing as they had both appeared, it seemed reasonable that they knew what was going on.

* * *

Ochaco approached the door to Izuku's room and stood in front of it for a moment before she lightly rapped her knuckles on the door;

"Deku? It's me, Uraraka" she said, hoping that he would answer the door, however she didn't need to as a response came very quickly;

"It's open" she heard from the other side of the door.

She opened the door slowly and peaked her head in. Once she located him sitting on the bed, she opened the door enough to allow herself in and then closed the door behind her;

"Hey Deku. How are you feeling?" she asked. She knew it was a stupid question but it was a starting point, right?

"I dunno...tired...embarrassed...angry, hurt, I...I just...dunno" he rambled.

"Deku, you shouldn't feel embarrassed" she started, slowly making her way towards the bed where he was sat on top of, knees curled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around them pulling them tighter and his head buried in them, "you've nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of. You've been through so, so much this year already with school alone, and yet all this time you were struggling with this inner turmoil that none of us knew about. You're strong Deku, you'll pull through this, and...I wanna help you through it, like best friends should" she went on to say.

He finally lifted his head to look at her, his eyes were now red and puffy, much like hers were earlier;

"Thanks Uraraka, it's nice to hear that. I just wish it were easier to get through" he sobbed out.

Ochaco had finally made it to the side of the bed before she half sat down on the bed next to the greenette;

"Do you wanna talk about it more?" she asked, hoping that he would take her up on the offer, though she also would like him not to do so, so that neither of them would have to go through anymore heartbreak right now.

"Not right now, maybe later?" he half asked, half said.

"That's alright, I'm available any time, day or night" she said and flashed him a smile.

"Thanks. Hey Uraraka, would you mind...staying for a while?" he asked her.

"Sure, I'm here for as long as you need me" she said.

She wrapped her arm around his shoulder, '_Wow, he must really work out, just feel how solid those muscles of his are…! OCHACO! This is no time to be thinking of this, he's just about had a nervous breakdown after his mom nearly stabbed you today, show some respect_' she chided herself. She pulled him closer to give him a side hug. He smiled and got comfortable, well as comfortable as can be when your head is sitting on top of your friends shoulder.

* * *

After an hour, both teens were laying in Midoriya's bed. Izuku was lightly sleeping facing the wall with his back to Ochaco. Ochaco was still awake and was laying there, staring at his ceiling in quiet contemplation about the days events. She felt a vibration in her pocket and pulled out her phone: 1 new message.

She unlocked her phone and opened up the message;

Tsuyu: Where r u?

Ochaco: In Deku's room, had to make sure he was ok, what's up?

Tsuyu: Come over to Yaoyorozu's room, the girls have an idea we want to run by you.

Ochaco: Ok, be there in five.

She climbed out of his bed and slowly made her way back to the door, stopping before grabbing the handle and looking back over her shoulder at the sleeping form of Izuku. She felt sad for him but also happy that she was trying her best to help, even if it was just comforting him.

She left the room and made her way to Yaoyorozu's room.

Upon reaching the room, Ochaco knocked on the door and waited for a moment before it was opened by Yaoyorozu herself;

"Greetings Ochaco, please come in" said the taller girl.

"Thanks Momo. Hey, what's up?" she both greeted and asked as she stepped in to the room.

"We've been discussing an idea that we think Midoriya would really appreciate" said Mina.

"Really? What is it?" asked Ochaco.

"I think Jiro should explain, it was her idea" said Mina.

"W-well, it's nothing really" began Jiro, slightly surprised by the sudden attention that was thrust on to her, "Mrs Midoriya has lapses where she doesn't even know who we are, right? So, I thought we could…" she continued. The rest of the conversation was met with approval for the idea and fleshing out the idea some more;

"Okay, I think that about covers it. Jiro, you, Mina and myself will go around all the boys rooms and ask them to congregate back in the common room. Tsuyu and Ochaco will get the common room ready and Toru will get the photographer" said Momo, giving everyone their tasks.

"Right" said everyone else in unison.

* * *

Izuku awoke and sat up abruptly, trying to remember what happened prior to him falling asleep as he clearly must have done. He remembered talking to Uraraka as he swung his head around the room looking for any sign of the girl but couldn't see her. He guessed she must have left some time earlier. He looked at the clock on his bedside table, 4.15pm it read, he supposed he should get up and clean himself up a bit, maybe make an appearance just to make sure everyone knew he was alive.

It had been a harrowing day to say the least for the young hero in training what with his mom escaping the hospital and turning up at his dorms to having an episode and trying to stab Uraraka. He wasn't quite over that last part yet but he knew everything would be fine, eventually.

He went in to his bathroom and turned the tap on at the sink and threw some cold water over his face before deciding to brush his teeth again (the smell of ones breath after sleeping is certainly not something anyone wants to endure). He discarded his t-shirt, threw on some body spray and put on a new t-shirt.

As he left his bathroom, he heard a knock at the door and made his way towards it. He opened the door to find Uraraka:

"Uh hi Uraraka" he said.

"Hey Deku, you're up. Feeling any better?" she asked.

"Yeah a bit, it's just gonna take some getting used to, you know the whole...aggressive...stabby...thing" he said tentatively.

"It's ok Deku, like I said before I don't blame you, so don't blame yourself ok?" she said.

"Ok" he nodded with a small smile formed on his face.

"Anyway, now that you're up, could you come with me please?" she asked.

"Uh sure but where are we going?" he asked in return.

"Downstairs to the common area" she replied.

"Sure" he said as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

There was a silence between the two teenagers, not an uncomfortable one or even a welcome one, just silence as they made their way downstairs. Upon reaching the common area, Izuku was a bit confused to see all his classmates huddled together around one of the couches as well as Mr Aizawa and All Might;

"Wha-what's going on?" he asked inquisitively.

"We wanted to help in anyway we could for your mother so, thanks to Jiro for suggesting the idea, we're going to take a class photo and we'd like you to take it to your mom, just to let her know that you're among friends" said Iida as he stepped forward.

Izuku was flabbergasted, he didn't know what to say, possibly couldn't say anything, he wasn't used to this kind of generosity and especially when it seems that Jiro spearheaded the idea. Tears began to form in his eyes but his eyes and his smile told the story;

"You guys...you didn't have to" he started to say before he was cut off.

"But we wanted to, that's what friends do" stated Todoroki with a rare smile forming on his face.

"C'mon, dry those eyes and let's sit down, the photographer is waiting after all" said Ochaco as she pointed at the man with the professional looking camera. Izuku was amazed that he missed the guy when he first entered the room but he could see that the man had his camera pointed at where his classmates had all huddled, it made perfect sense now.

Ochaco then nudged the boy to get him moving as they made their way towards the couch;

"This seat is for you Izuku, front and centre" said Tsuyu patting the seat next to her.

"Thanks Asu-I mean Tsuyu" he said as he sat down, remembering that she preferred to be called by her first name by people she considered to be her friends.

"Okay, is everybody ready?" asked the photographer to the group of people.

Izuku looked at Ochaco who had sat down next to him on the couch as she looked back at him. She gave him a nod of acknowledgement as he did the same;

"We're ready" said Izuku.

"All right, on the count of three, everyone say PLUS ULTRA! One, Two, Three" the man said.

"PLUS ULTRA!" came the deafening sound from the bunch heroes in training (and pro heroes)..

The photographer took a few photos in quick succession thanks to his camera and told everyone that they did great. He dismounted the camera and moved his tripod out of the way. Whilst he was dismantling his stuff, Kaminari then spoke up;

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's get this party started" he raised his voice to a near shout. Mina agreed whole-heartedly whilst Izuku looked confused before Ochaco spoke up;

"Yeah sorry meant to say, we didn't really want all this effort to go to waste so we thought we could still throw you that party, if that's ok with you?" asked a cautious Ochaco.

Izuku pondered it for a moment before speaking up;

"You know what, yeah...yeah I think that would be a great idea" he said. Realising that after the events of today, even if he couldn't quite push it aside, the party might help his classmates destress and unwind.

* * *

As the party went on and fun times were had, the photographer decided to stay and get some additional shots, he was after all, doing this as a favour to All Might so he was willing to put in the extra effort for him. He discarded the tripod earlier so was taking shots from many different angles, some up close and some from after, some wide angled shots and some not so much.

After the party had wrapped up by way of the majority of the student body having gone to bed earlier, Izuku decided it was time to call it quits. He grabbed a refuse sack and began grabbing things from tables such as empty soda cans and decorations and tossing them in, Iida did the same as did Ochaco, along with Tokoyami and Ojiro.

Eventually, the place was relatively tidy, save for the odd one or two things out of place in the kitchen. Tokoyami and Ojiro excused themselves and went back to their dorm rooms, Iida accompanied his friends out of the common area, electing to take the elevator to his floor whilst Izuku, only being one floor up decided to use the stairs and Ochaco decided to keep him company.

Izuku and Ochaco chatted briefly as they walked up the stairs and down the hall to Midoriya's room;

"Hey Uraraka...thanks, for everything you've done today, I don't know how to make it up to you" the boy said shaking his head as though he were in disbelief.

"It's alright, just promise me that if things get too much or you have any other problems come up, you'll let me know, right?" she asked.

"Right" he said.

There was an awkward silence as they both stood there for a moment not knowing what else to say or do;

"Well, I guess I'm gonna head in to my room now" said Izuku.

"Ok" said Ochaco before she moved forward and enveloped the boy in a hug, her arms wrapped around his neck.

Izuku went red in the ace, not knowing what to do he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and lower back and pulled her closer to himself. He thought about how nice Uraraka felt, very soft and delicate, he made sure not to squeeze too hard. As quick as the hug started did it end but not before Ochaco pecked his cheek with a small kiss;

"Stay healthy Izuku, good night" she said before dropping her arms from his neck and making her way back to the stairs.

Izuku was as red as a tomato and could only stutter his word but was enough to say good night to his friend.

'_Wow, that...was...amazing! She's so gentle, her skin is so soft and that...that kiss...wow'_ thought Izuku after he had managed to autopilot his way back in to his room.

* * *

A week had passed since the party/incident and Izuku had decided that he was going to visit his mother again. After last week, he wanted to be sure that she was still in the hospital and that they were sticking to their word about beefing up security. As he was just about ready to go there was a knock at his door. He walked over and turned the door knob and slowly opened the door;

"Jiro?" he asked with confusion.

"Hey Midoriya, hope this isn't a bad time?" she asked.

"Eh no, no not at all, what can I do for you?" he asked with still a hint of confusion.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you" she said.

"Thank you? But what for?" he asked, now more confused.

"Last weekend, you told me I could go back to bed and get some sleep before the others work up. Well as it turned out I slept for another 4 hours after that, but that's not what I'm thanking you for. I'm thanking you because until that point, I had THE worst writer's block imaginable, I couldn't get lyrics or sheet music or anything done. Once I woke up though, that all changed and I was able to power through and finish my latest song" she had went on to explain.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to play it for you if that's what you were thinking" she said.

"I wasn't worried, I would love to listen to you play. I'm also glad I was able to help you" he said

"Nah you wouldn't" she said nonchalantly, "but here, I brought you this" she finished as she produced a something from behind her back. She had been holding on to something wrapped in a thin protective paper.

"What is it?" he asked as he started to unwrap the paper from the item.

"It's a photo frame, with the picture that the photographer took last week of us all. Since I came up with the idea, everyone else thought that it was fitting that I gave it to you, plus it allowed me to thank you so, two birds with one stone, am I right?" she said.

"I...thank you Jiro" he replied kindly.

"No sweat, what are friends for" she replied before moving forward and much like Uraraka, enveloping him in a hug, only she wrapped her arms around midsection and leaned her head against his chest.

"Please make sure to take care of yourself Midoriya. My door is always open if you wanna talk" she said before letting go and making her way back down the hall.

Again, Izuku didn't know what to do or say but before he could reflect on the gift he had been given, Jiro spoke up once more;

"Oh and Midoriya!" she said from down the hall.

"Y-yeah" he replied meekly.

"If anyone about me hugging you, I will hurt you" she stated in her very own Jiro way.

"Got it" he gulped nervously as she continued down the hall and to the stairs.

He went back in to his room and took the picture out of the frame. Whilst it was a nice gesture, the frame was too sharp and pointed for his mother to keep, he had decided when he had seen it that he would get a new frame for it. He then took out a pen and wrote something in the corner before grabbing his bag and heading out the door.

* * *

He arrived at the hospital and walked in the front door just as he had done a number of times previously. When he walked in, he noticed an immediate change to the security, the biggest of which was a new metal entry gate inside the reception area where you could only gain entry once someone at the reception desk pushed a button to unlock the gate. A big plus in his mind.

Eventually he made his way through to his mom's room and knocked. He had heard her telling whomever it was to come in, so he opened the door and started to speak;

"Hey mom, it's me" he called out.

"Hi sweetie, I'm so happy you came" replied Inko as Izuku closed the door and walked further in to the room.

"Hey mom, I'm happy to see you too" he replied, a wide smile on his face.

"I brought you something" he said.

"Oh? What is it?" she asked.

He produced a picture frame from his bag, something he bought on the way here that was allowed in the room.

"My classmates decided that they needed to show you just how much I mean to them and in turn, how much you mean to them" he said.

Inko looked at the photo that he had given to her and smiled before tears began forming in her eyes, but these were tears of joy and not sadness;

"Oh, Izuku darling, this is perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more" she told him before giving him a bone-crushing hug.

I'll just place this right over here next to the window.

The picture was of course of Izuku and his classmates. Each and every person in the photo was holding up a peace sign, with the addition of Iida standing behind Izuku with a hand on his shoulder and Ochaco leaning her head on his other shoulder. Even Bakugou had a peace sign out although he wasn't looking directly at the camera and at each side of the picture, Mr Aizawa and All Might could be seen, each holding out their own peace sign, although Aizawa really looked like he didn't want to be there.

In the bottom right corner of the photo was a small caption: Love you Mom, Izuku and Friends

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this short story, please leave a review if you would like or go read my other stories (go check my profile). I've got a number of ideas for My Hero Academia stories so you'll hopefully hear from me again soon.


End file.
